The night gradually enveloped the sky.
Although the birthday party had been held in a subtle atmosphere, it had thankfully concluded smoothly. The drizzling rain, which had been falling since the morning, had also unknowingly come to an end, leaving only scattered raindrops drifting through the air.
After the party, Alice did not linger for too long. After all, the magus's workshop here was a considerable distance from her own mansion. To not miss the train, she had to leave early.
Although she was very concerned about Touko and Aoko's behavior when they had first returned to the workshop, it was, in the end, the Aozaki family's own business. It was not her place to ask. She only reminded Touko before she left, hoping that she would think carefully before taking any action.
This was both a piece of advice as a friend and a plea on behalf of the very worried Aozaki Rin.
Of course, how the person in question would view her words was not within her consideration.
Watching Alice leave the workshop, Touko let out a somewhat bitter laugh, thinking to herself that this friend of hers really didn't understand anything...
But just as she turned to return to her room in the workshop, she found Aoko had come up behind her, her eyes flickering, a hesitant look on her face, as if she wanted to discuss something.
"Where's Rin?"
Trying her best to make her tone sound no different from usual, Touko's voice still couldn't help but have a hint of coldness to it.
"That child is currently cleaning up the decorations in the room. But more importantly, I wanted to tell you... I'm not going to inherit the Magic, Big Sis. So you don't have to worry about what that old man said."
A trace of anxiety and worry was on Aoko's brow. Although her emotions seemed a little agitated, she still subconsciously lowered her voice to prevent Aozaki Rin, in the room not far away, from hearing.
"Mhm, I know. Let's just leave it at that for now. I'm a bit tired after a long day."
Touko nodded lightly, her face wearing its usual faint smile.
Seeing that her older sister's reaction was so calm, completely different from how she had been in the cave before, Aoko blinked, and only then did she realize what was happening. Thinking that Touko had come to terms with it, she also smiled and said.
"Then let's not worry about it. We can just let the old man have a headache over it himself."
She couldn't help but feel a sigh of relief in her heart. After all, Aoko was genuinely afraid that her relationship with Touko would be fractured because of this matter, and at that time, Aozaki Rin, caught between the two of them, would undoubtedly be the one to suffer the most.
Touko smiled wordlessly. Listening to Aoko beside her, who had started to chat cheerfully about things at school as she usually did, she would occasionally nod in response, a hint of imperceptible self-mockery in her eyes.
You have no idea how lucky you are, Aoko...
The two returned to the room. Aozaki Rin, who had already put away most of the birthday party decorations, had also long since heard Aoko's cheerful chatter in the corridor and couldn't help but feel that everything seemed to have returned to how it was before.
However, he was still a little worried and couldn't help but ask.
"Sister Touko, about that matter you had to deal with before, are you sure you'll be okay on your own? Do you need me and Sister to help?"
"It's fine. Also, I'll tell you about that matter tomorrow. You're already very tired today. After you finish cleaning up, you should rest early."
Stroking the boy's head, Touko glanced at Aoko, who was looking on with a confused expression, not knowing what the two of them were talking about. She smiled without saying anything and walked to the side to start brewing some black tea.
After receiving her answer, Aozaki Rin did not press further. Since he would know tomorrow why Touko had been in that state in the afternoon, there was no need to be hasty. Besides, looking at her current state, she didn't seem to care about that certain matter she had mentioned anymore.
Aozaki Rin blinked in Aoko's direction, and Aoko just shrugged as if to say it was nothing.
With the two siblings working together, they quickly took down the remaining decorations and placed them aside.
As for the birthday present Aozaki Rin had originally given, it had long since been carefully put away by Aoko, who planned to take it out and use it when the weather got colder. At that time, she might even be able to make some people envious.
After a flurry of activity and each drinking a cup of the congratulatory black tea Touko had prepared, Aozaki Rin, after a simple bath, went to bed to rest.
Before long, Touko and Aoko also extinguished the lights in the workshop and prepared to sleep.
On the small bed, three people were squeezed tightly together.
Although he was a little unaccustomed to it at first, after a month, this feeling had instead made Aozaki Rin feel a sense of familial intimacy.
He looked up and said goodnight to Touko, who was lying in front of him, and to Aoko, who was hugging him from behind.
"Goodnight, Sister Touko, Sister."
"Mhm, go to sleep, Rin."
Touko smiled and nodded, not reminding her little sister to behave herself at night as she had in the past, and directly closed her eyes.
And the boy, as if gradually feeling a deep drowsiness, his breathing slowly became steady, and just like Aoko behind him, he unknowingly fell into a dream.
The sound of the clock ticking softly echoed in the workshop.
In the middle of the night, long after midnight, Touko, who should have been fast asleep, suddenly opened her eyes.
She glanced at Aozaki Rin and Aoko, who were in a deep slumber due to her "suggestion" and the sleeping draught in the tea. She quietly left the bed, changed her clothes, and began to pack her luggage in an orderly manner.
I'm sorry, Rin. It seems I have to break my promise this time. But if I stay with Aoko any longer, I'm afraid I won't be able to control my emotions. Let me just be alone for a while to calm down...
Leaving a letter in the dim yellow light, Touko gazed at the boy's peaceful sleeping face, and at Aoko, who was currently hugging Aozaki Rin tightly, her sleeping posture sprawled out. Her expression was somewhat complicated.
After a long while, as if talking to herself, she gazed at Aoko's face and said softly.
"You get to have both the Magic and him. This world is just too unfair... What a lucky person you are..."
Not lingering any longer, the black-haired girl extinguished the light in the room, took her luggage, and silently left the workshop.
In the darkness, only a single letter was left on the table.
And at this very moment, in the boy's dream, a majestic voice, full of magnetism, sounded once more.
[Dream Simulator, activating.]
[Well then, what kind of story will you show me this time, my beloved child of the goddess.]
...
[Time: 1979]
-------
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